Car safety seats for children are commercially available in a many configurations corresponding to differences in the age, weight, and size of the child being transported. Parents can choose a car seat that is not only the correct size for their child and their vehicle, but one that also suits their tastes, budget, and life style. As children grow in size and maturity level, they need different kinds of car seats. For example, a child may initially use a rearwardly facing infant car seat, then graduate to a forward facing toddler seat with an integrated harness, and finally to a belt positioning booster seat utilizing the vehicle's lap and shoulder belt system before being able to safely use the vehicle's seat belts alone.
There are many car seats on the market that can be used in multiple configurations. For instance, a forward facing car seat with an integral five-point harness appropriate for a 20-40 pound child might accommodate a child weighing 30-100 pounds as a belt positioning booster seat with the removal of the harness and utilizing the vehicle's lap and shoulder belts. This is convenient for the care giver because it means fewer seats to purchase. Currently available car seats typically have a monolithic shell, i.e. the back and seat cannot be used separately. Some car seats are designed to have a no back base option, but are configured as a separate seat fastened under the monolithic seat and back, such as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,754,999, issued on Jul. 5, 1998, to James Kain. The problem with this configuration is the redundancy of seats; one as part of the monolithic shell, and one as a seat only.
States review and regulate restraint age limits and weight requirements. With continuing age and weight increases for recommendations in child restraint safety, a variety of restraint sizes are needed to accommodate the increasing span of children needing car seat safety restraints. The shoulder height and proper placement of belt paths are critical to the safety function of car seat restraints for use with smaller children, but when the car seat is to be utilized as a belt positioning booster, the five-point harness is cumbersome and cannot be simply left on the seat. One option to convert a car seat having a five-point harness to a belt positioning booster is to disconnect the five-point harness from the car seat shell and store the harness at a remote location. Of course, the disconnected harness can be lost, misplaced or accidentally thrown out, preventing the car seat to be reconverted back from the belt positioning booster mode to the car seat configuration.
It would also be desirable to provide a five-point harness storage system that will permit a quick and effective conversion of the car seat into a belt positioning booster without requiring the harness to be removed from the car seat shell.